IDEO team
some say creative team work golden rule “Enlightened trial & error succeeds over the planning of a lone genius” Fail often to succeed sooooooner with open minds and a boss who demand fresh ideas chaos could be constructive and great deal of collaborative team work could work better

A project can be : (writing a book, Planning a wedding party, Building a house or building a software)
A project is:

• Ref. **www.maxwideman.com** from Max's PM wisdom
• "Any undertaking with a defined starting point and defined objectives the achievement of which identify completion. In practice most projects depend on finite or limited resources with which the objectives are to be accomplished." (PMI, 1985)

Managing, by the way was well defined as long ago as 1916 by Henri Fayol said:

• "To manage is to forecast and plan, to organize, to command, to coordinate and to control. To forecast and plan means examining the future and drawing up the plan of action. To organize means to build up the dual structure, material and human, of the undertaking. To command means maintaining activity amongst the personnel. To coordinate means bonding together, unifying and harmonizing all activity and effort. To control means seeing that everything occurs in conformity with established rule and expressed command." (Henri Fayol, Administration Industrielle et Generale, 1916.)

A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, a service,
The temporary nature of projects indicate a defined beginning and end. the end is reached when the project's objectives have been reached or when the project is terminated because its objectives will not or cannot be met, or when the need for the project no longer exist. A project has an expected output, a start and end dates and limited resources.



Projects and programmes are approved and funded to generate benefits. Project Management for the Creation of Organisational Value proposes a complete framework that seeks to support such an objective – from project selection and definition, through execution, and beyond implementation of deliverables until benefits are secured


Project Management is:

• "The art of directing and coordinating human and material resources throughout the life of a project by using modern management techniques to achieve predetermined objectives of scope, cost, time, quality and participant satisfaction." (PMI, 1985).
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A Program is a group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits and control not available from managing the individually.
A Portfolio is a collection of projects and programs managed as a group to achieve strategic objectives.
Operations and Projects: We should understand the distinction between a project and operations. Operations may be confusing with a project due to the fact that both are carried out by people, are limited due to scarce resources (people, material, time) and need to be planned and controlled. The main difference is that operations are ongoing and repetitive, whereas a project is unique and temporary. Operational work is not project work.

The following materials are to reflect on to establish a solid comprehension about the importance of PM







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What is Project Management

is a Team-Based Approach for managing projects. Project managers have various responsibilities that include:
· Organizing workload : making sure that work is done in the appropriate sequence, and goals are met
· Human resources : providing motivation and direction to people working on the project
· Communications : making sure that people on the project have the information and communciation needed to complete the project
· Time : Scheduling and making sure projects are being completed as scheduled
· Costs : Staying within the budget
· Quality of work: meeting the objectives of the project

There are a number of tools used, such as work breakdown structure, network diagrams, and Gantt charts. Slack is the allowable amount of slippage for a path and is found by taking the difference of the particular path and the critical path (late start MINUS early start or late finish MINUS early finish). To crash a project means to shorten it and managers should do this one period at a time. Two similar and commonly used techniques--PERT and CPM depict the sequential relationship among the activities.

Project Life Cycle

The size, length, and scope of the projects vary widely according to the nature and the purpose of the project. However, all projects have one common aspect, a life cycle which consists of four phases:
1. Definition has two parts:
(a) concept, at which point the organization recognizes the need for a project or responds to a request for a proposal from a customer or client.
(b) feasibility analysis, examines the expected costs, benefits and risks of carrying out the project.
2. Planning outlines the details of the work and estimates the necessary HR, time and cost required.
3. Execution Time during which the project itself is done. Often accounts for the majority of time and resources used in the project.
4. Termination Phase during which closure is achieved. It can involve reassigning personnel and dealing with any leftover materials, equipment, or any other resources associated with the project.
One phase does not have to be fully completed before the next phase can begin. This can reduce the time needed to move through the life cycle and perhaps even generate a competitive advantage and save cost.


Projects are single operations designed to accomplish a specific set of instructions under a limited period. Members of different projects will vary in skill and knowledge, therefore organization and functionality as a unit are important to the success of the project. Projects undergo different stages of a life cycle. Software is implemented to help design prototypes, organize information, decrease costs and estimate time.

Project Management
Managers are usually confronted with making unique decisions based on a specific environment and business operation. Project management is a unique, one- time operation designed to accomplish a specific set of objectives in a limited time. With limited time and a variety of activities involved, unique problems arise for the project manager. Projects go through a series of stages known as a life cycle: Definition, planning, execution, and delivery. To coordinate and plan large scale projects, PERT and CPM are two techniques most commonly used.

Decisions need to be prioritized in order to accomplish a task. Logically, the book states the decisions systematically: deciding what project to implement, selecting the project manager, selecting the project team, planning and designing the project, managing and controlling project resources, and deciding if and when the project should be terminated. Full responsibility lays on the selected project manager, so they must be diligent. Diligence does not just apply to just his/her actions, but also the work delegated to the project team. Constantly, every aspect of the project must be accounted for; this includes the work, workers, team communication, performance

ed three certain times of the activity as variables: the optimistic time (time it would take under ideal conditions, to), pessimistic time (time it would take under worst conditions, tp), and most likely time (time it would take under probable conditions). Managers use statistical analysis to further examine activity times. They use the like of beta distribution to graphically look at the variability of time estimates (see figure 17.8, pg 782). By adding the weighted averages (te) of different activities in a certain path one may find the critical path. Then by finding its variance one may find out the uncertainty of an activity's time. When computing probabilistic time estimates, one can find the probability that the project will be done by a deadline or longer.

Projects are usually composed of a unique set of activities established to realize a given set of objectives in a limited time span. Projects go through a life cycle that involves definition, planning, execution, and deliver. Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) and the Critical Path Method (CPM) are two normally used techniques for developing and monitoring projects. CPM models the activities and events of a project as a network. It is currently little difference between the two of them. For constructing a network diagram you can use two slightly different conventions. One designates the arrows as activities, the other designates the nodes as activities.

Project Management Software

Technology has played a key role in project management. The use of computer-aided design (CAD ) to produce updated prototypes .One of the software programs discussed in this chapter to help manage projects is Microsoft Project. As many of us have used Microsoft Project in our homework assignments as well as in lab, one has learned that it can be customized to accommodate specific needs. Microsoft Project can be use to successfully estimate cost, track progress and create schedules. Nonetheless, Microsoft Project makes communication easier among organizations by enabling its users to share a project plan with others, format & print custom reports and easily present project status. Some of the advantages in using Project management software packages are that it provides logical planning structure, enhances communication among team members, flags the occurrence of constant violations, automatically formats reports, and generates various chart types such as the Gantt chart used in lab.

A Recap Summary

Project management is a team-based approach for managing project. The nature of the project may vary in different situations. That is why it is the management’s responsibility to make key decision on deciding which projects to implement, selecting the project managers, selecting the project team, planning and designing the project, managing and controlling project resources, and deciding if and when a project should be terminated. Risk management and budgeting are some of the factors that play an important role for managers when deciding if a project is worth selecting and proceeding with. A typical project life cycle can be broken down into four phases: Definition, planning, execution, and termination. PERT (program evaluation and review technique) and CPM (critical path method) are two methods that managers often use for planning and coordinating large-scale projects. These methods can either be probabilistic or deterministic.

Project Champions

These project champions are people who usually work within the company who promote and support the project for the company. They will "talk up" the project to other managers who will need to be resources to the project, or might be asked to work on the project. The work project champions put in is essential for the success of the project, thats why team members need to support the project champions.
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